West Virginia Digital Library

Current, reliable information is one of the most valuable resources of the 21st century.

Providing such information to the residents of West Virginia is the goal of the West Virginia Digital Library.
West Virginia University students or anyone who walks into a WVU library can sit at a computer and access a myriad of electronic resources. Similar tools are available at other institutions of higher education around the state.

But despite all the wonders of the digital age, its reach is sometimes limited to those who visit a library on campus. Although almost every public library and K-12 school in the Mountain State is connected to the information highway, many resources aren't available to them.

"The infrastructure is there to get information to all the people of West Virginia, but there's not enough content," WVU Libraries Dean Frances O'Brien said. "It's like a library with only a few books on the shelves."
West Virginia Digital Library wants to change that. WVDL is a consortium of libraries from throughout West Virginia committed to providing statewide access to books, magazines and other online resources.

"Our goal is that anyone, anywhere in West Virginia, can walk into their public library, school library, or academic library have access to a core group of important electronic resources," O'Brien said.
Currently, every college and university in the state signs its own agreements with database providers to serve their student, staff and local communities. WVDL is asking the state to step in to widen the net and bring everyone under one umbrella. Under the WVDL's plan, K-12 school and public libraries would also become access points.

Barbara Winters, Marshall University Library dean, sees the need for looking beyond one's campus to serve the state. She supports the WVDL mission because it would connect people in rural parts of the state to resources they are currently unable to afford.

"Public library use in rural areas is high," Winters said. "The demand is there, but there has never been the ability to supply."

Filling the need requires new agreements with database providers that would cover all libraries in the state. WVDL puts the price tag at $1.7 million for the first year.

"We don't need additional buildings, we don't need more equipment, we don't need more computers," O'Brien said. "The infrastructure is there. We need the content to deliver."

Continuous funding is necessary, but O'Brien encourages lawmakers to consider this an investment in the state and consider the dividend.

"Think what this could do for a young mother who needs child care information. Think about the person on Main Street who has a bright idea and wants to know how to do a business plan," O'Brien said. "People have all kinds of information needs, and this would bring it all to them."

O'Brien, along with Penny Pugh, head of the library reference department, represent WVU on the WVDL steering committee.

For more information: http://www.wvdl.org

Ex Libris is published quarterly by the WVU Libraries
P.O. Box 6069 Morgantown WV 26506-6069
www.libraries.wvu.edu
(304) 293-4040